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San Francisco Giants Championship Season Review

November 3rd, 2012 at 3:56 PM By Michael Almonte

The San Francisco Giants completed another successful season in 2012 finishing with a winning record for the fourth consecutive year culminating with their second championship in three seasons.

The team finished with a 94-68 record winning the National League West by eight games over the Los Angeles Dodgers. They went 46-35 on the road and 48-33 at home. The Giants had trailed the Dodgers by seven games in May before catching them in June. The team recorded four straight shutouts during the month of June finishing the year with 14.

The Giants offense scored 718 runs good for sixth in the NL and smacked 1495 hits ranking them third. The team led all of baseball with 57 triples and 61 sacrifice flies coming close to breaking franchise records. The 1960 Giants recorded 62 triples and the 2000 team finished with 66 sacrifice flies.

The pitching was solid once again displaying the fifth best ERA 3.68 in the NL and ranked third in baseball saving 53 games. Considering the team lost All-Star closer Brian Wilson at the beginning of the year to Tommy John surgery, its pretty remarkable how the Giants bullpen saved the day.

The staff allowed 142 homers, 649 runs, recorded five complete games and opponents batted .248 against them good for fifth in the NL. The highlight of the season for the staff came on June 13 when Matt Cain threw the first perfect game in franchise history shutting out the Houston Astros.

Defensively, the team committed the fourth most errors in baseball 115 and ranked second in the league throwing out 53 runners attempting to steal bases.

The Giants had a record of 30-20 in one-run games, 75-20 when scoring four runs or more and 66-22 when scoring first. They had the best record facing lefties 40-19, went 8-5 in extra-innings and produced six walk-off wins.

The team made two big trades acquiring Marco Scutaro from the Colorado Rockies on July 27 and Hunter Pence from the Philadelphia Phillies on July 31. The team went 38-23 after getting Scutaro and Pence solidified the right fielder position batting fifth in the lineup.

The Giants had four representatives in the All-Star Game back in July with Cain, Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval and Melky Cabrera all being named starters. Cain earned the win, Sandoval tripled home three runs and Cabrera was named MVP helping the NL capture home-field advantage in the World Series.

Cabrera was the Giants best player until he was suspended 50 games for testing positive for testosterone on August 15. Most people counted out the Giants except for the Giants themselves who rallied together the rest of the season. This team really came together on the road especially following the All-Star break going 26-11 losing just one series the rest of the way. The team went 30-15 without Cabrera winning the NL West on September 22.

The Giants showed their mental toughness and resiliency in the postseason overcoming deficits in the Division Series and NLCS to reach the Fall Classic. They stunned the Reds winning the final three games on the road and dismantled the Cardinals rallying from a 3-1 hole outscoring them 20-1 in the final three games. The Giants defeated the Detroit Tigers and their ace Justin Verlander in Game 1 knocking the Tigers to the ground sweeping them away the rest of the series.

The team went 11-5 in the postseason scoring 69 runs, connecting with 127 hits, 21 doubles, six triples, 14 homers, 62 RBI's and drew 48 walks in 16 games. They batted .236 with a .298 on-base percentage and .375 slugging percentage totaling a .674 OPS. The pitching was spectacular showcasing a 2.88 ERA allowing 117 hits, 47 runs, striking out 128 and recording four shutouts as the opposition batted .218. They went 10-1 when scoring first, 8-1 scoring four runs or more, 2-0 in one-run games and 2-0 in extra-innings.

The Giants earned this championship because they epitomized what a team is all about standing united and making the necessary sacrifices to accomplish their ultimate goal. The 2012 Giants are simply "World Champions."